"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." --- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Beryl Coronet

The Boscombe Valley Mystery: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact."

"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson 'Art,' 1841

I finally got around to playing Elder Scrolls: Skyrim very very recently. As awesome as everyone stated it and it's predecessors. Faster Than Light is awesome and probably my favorite indie of the past year, along with Audiosurf. I recommend The Testament of Sherlock Holmes to anyone who's a Sherlock fan. Very well made, it is. Ticket To Ride is a great laid back game when you're not wanting to think or get too involved with something.

Omerta: City of Gangsters was alright. (Not sure why it was rated so low.) I'm sure there are a couple others out there, but those have been the mainstays when I have a rare free night or morning.

What about any of you?

"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." --- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Beryl Coronet

The Boscombe Valley Mystery: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact."

"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson 'Art,' 1841

I've been mostly casual-gaming since I finished Ni no Kuni a while ago. I had a week recently where I spent way too much time jumping back and forth between a handful of Facebook games, letting one's action points regenerate while I played a couple others in rotation. Marvel Avengers Alliance and Candy Crush are my two biggest addictions right now on that front. On a non-FB casual-gaming front, I just finished a playthrough of the four "Westward" titles. Fairly enjoyable strategy-lite series. Wish they'd put out another.

I just picked up Dishonored earlier this week, since I loved the stealth elements of Deus Ex and have been wanting to try another stealth-centric game. So far having a LOT tougher time gauging when I'm hidden and such with the first-person perspective they have going, so not sure how this is going to go... but I'm still in the early stages. Hopefully I'll adapt.

- Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me. (Matthew 25:40)

- Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)

Chatty and I have become a bit obsessed with Star Trek: Online recently.

I've seen critics and other reviewers stating how bad it was. I'm not sure why though.

"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." --- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Beryl Coronet

The Boscombe Valley Mystery: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact."

"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson 'Art,' 1841

While I'm not playing on a computer, I am still playing Injustice on the 360 and have started Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut on the PS3.

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
--Jor-El

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job: it's a depression when you lose yours.
-- Harry S. Truman

Chatty and I have become a bit obsessed with Star Trek: Online recently.

I've seen critics and other reviewers stating how bad it was. I'm not sure why though.

There are good reasons why the reviewers are saying it's bad. It's laggy, bugged, and the servers are being taken down for maintainance for two hours nearly every day since "Legacy of Romulus" was added. The controls take a bit of getting used to as well. But its far from unplayable and since its free-to-play, paying for extra items or a subscription or a 'lifetime package' is all optional.

Overall, it has its flaws but its Star Trek, playable, free and its fun.

Follow-up: I ended up enjoying Dishonored, but it seemed awfully short. I was aiming for a no-kill game, and was a little disappointed how few of the magic powers and such lent themselves to stealth. I read somewhere that the ability to stealth through the game was originally an Easter egg, not something they were really focusing on, and that shows. Sneaking up on someone and choking them out without being spotted never gets old, anyway.

Spent literally all day Sunday glued to "The Last of Us".

- Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me. (Matthew 25:40)

- Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)

Lucky. I forgot that it was released on a Friday, and Saturday I couldn't find a copy to rent or buy anywhere.

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
--Jor-El

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job: it's a depression when you lose yours.
-- Harry S. Truman

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Naughty Dog really knows how to take an old stand-by set-up and kick it up a few notches with strong characters and relationships. Like Uncharted, gameplay is a bit of a mishmash of elements, so there are quibbles to be made there, but the characters and world-building are so strong, I don't even mind it, and I like the variety of activities. It gives a more real-world feel to everything. I think it's the closest I've come with any game or tv show to really feeling like I'm really present in the a post-apocalyptic world.

Aside: I wish there were a post-apocalyptic game that focused on the rebuilding civilization aspect... like a simulation game that includes building up your defenses to deal with different threats, planting crops, going on supply runs to loot increasingly further afield areas, balancing increasing the size of your community with threats that newer people bring. Those aspects of shows like Walking Dead or The Last of Us always captures my imagination... but they're always just sort of background elements to the core drama.

- Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me. (Matthew 25:40)

- Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)

Finished up The Last of Us. There was a sequence about halfway through that cemented this as a truly great game, imo. The game is divided into chapters by season, and the entire Winter portion is really harrowing, powerful stuff. It also gave me a new appreciation for how best to use stealth in the game, so I may need to go back and replay the first half at some point, now that I have a better feel for how to make it more than stealthing two guys and getting stuck in a firefight for the rest of the level.

The game does a really good job of making you feel the brutality of your own actions. The way Joel's just an ordinary shlub - not a soldier or lawkeeper or cyborg - just a guy who's done what it takes to survive and has clearly chosen to deal with the moral implications of that by shutting all of his soft, squishy bits behind a ten foot wall with razor wire on top - and the way Ellie keeps us aware of it with her occasional exclamations of "Jesus, Joel!" or "Oh, man." when he burns someone alive with a Molotov cocktail, or bashes someone's head in... the whole game, I had a sort of twisty feeling in my gut at how distasteful it was to be killing these dudes... a sense of how far humanity had fallen if even an inherently decent guy like Joel could be made into this sort of killer. Really well done.

I also finished up the Walking Dead game over the weekend, so between these two games and catching up with Defiance, I'm having quite a month for adoptive father/daughter relationships in the post-apocalypse.

- Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me. (Matthew 25:40)

- Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)

I rented Deadpool and am playing that at the moment. I think after I finish it I might play same Fable 3. I never did finish my second play-through.

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
--Jor-El

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job: it's a depression when you lose yours.
-- Harry S. Truman

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
--Jor-El

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job: it's a depression when you lose yours.
-- Harry S. Truman